Prayer and Introduction
PRAYER
Guru Madhye
Sthitham Vishwam
Vishwa Madhye
sthitho Guruhu;
Gurur-Vishwam
Nacha Anyosthi
Thasmai Shri
Gurave Namh.
The universe
has its being within the Guru; the Guru abides within the universe
(as its essence); the Guru is the universe; nothing exists besides
him. Salutations to such a Guru.
(Shri Guru –
Gita)
Introduction
My contact
with the spiritual tradition of Lord Dattatreya was quite
fortuitous, a discovery by chance. When I was collecting material
for the comprehensive account of Sai Baba of Shirdi, I came across
the experience of one Kusa Bhav.
Kusa Bhav
served his Guru, Sri Datta Maharaj and learnt occult skills like
mysterious transference of material objects. He could produce
sweetmeats from “nowhere” by a wave of his hand with the power of
the mantra and distribute the same to amazed devotees as prasad.
At one stage, he started pestering his guru to teach him black
magic with which he could harm his opponents who derided him as a
charlatan. The wise guru realized that it was not good for either
of them to stay together any longer. He directed his disciple to
seek spiritual guidance henceforth from Sai Baba of Shirdi and
himself retired to the Himalayas to pursue his own spiritual quest
for perfection.
When Kusa Bhav
arrived at Shirdi, Sai Baba was wild with rage and would not allow
him to enter the mosque. He said that the sweetmeats produced by
the former were not ‘created’, as the gullible devotees supposed,
but were merely transferred from elsewhere by the power of
mantra. Thus, he said, it amounted to theft and cheating. The
sweetmeats thus pollute their devout recipients spiritually and
would inspire them, in their turn, to hanker after cheap occult
powers instead of seeking spiritual Enlightenment which is the
only noble of man’s life. Sai Baba insisted that unless the
visitor chose to give up his weird practices and leave off the
power at the holy river Godavari, he would not allow the latter to
come to him. Kusa Bhav vacillated for some time and, after much
inner struggle, had to give in. He went to the Godavari, threw
away the iron-bangle on his right hand and, taking the holy water
in his palms, he vowed to give up all his occult powers as
directed by Sai Baba. To his amazement, he discovered that he
could no longer produce such material objects by a wave of his
hand. Henceforth, Sai Baba allowed him to visit him at the mosque
and instructed him to read the Sree Guru Charitra 108 times
and visit holy Gangapur now and then. Later, Sai Baba blessed him
with the power of obtaining sacred ash by merely thinking about
him.
This incident
drew my attention to Sree Guru Charitra as a potent means
of winning grace of a Perfect Master. Soon I discovered that the
Marathi texts which devotees study at Shirdi are those of this
holy work. But none of the devotees knew English and I had no
occasion to learn its contents for quite some time.
Again, in the
course of my study of the life of Sir Sai Baba, I came across
incidents which demonstrated the spiritual identity of the great
fakir with his equally great contemporary saint, Sree Swami
Samarth, more popularly known as Sree Akkalkot Maharaj
(1856-1878). Naturally, I was drawn to learn more about the latter
and then I came to know that his life was a continuation of that
of Sree Nrisimha Saraswathi, the second Avatar of Lord Dattatreya
in this age, celebrated in Sree Guru Charitra.
I stumbled
upon the subtleties of Dattatreya tradition no less fortuitously.
Ever since I visited Shirdi (1963) and studied the marvellous life
of Sri Sai Baba, I traveled extensively in search of a Sadguru so
that I could dedicate my whole life to his service.
Once I visited
Sri Ma Anandamayi at Naimisharanya (Uttar Pradesh) during the
Bhagavat Saptah. At one of the daily expositions of the holy
text, the revered speaker, Sri Akhandananda Saraswathi remarked
that only a living Sadguru could lead his devotee to
Self-realization and that a Sadguru who had cast off his body,
however great he might be, can only fulfill prayers for one’s
material good. He spoke in Hindi which I could only understand but
cannot speak and so I could not discuss with him. As Sai Baba was
no longer available to me in flesh and blood, I wondered what I
could do, but I had no chance to get the clarification.
After a few
months, I visited Shirdi on a proposed stay of seven days. I
wished to obtain Sai Baba’s guidance and clarification in this
matter. On the second day, I was very strongly impelled to visit
my old student who was working in Pune. I was quite unusual, as I
never visited anyone of my friends or kinsfolk. I had to yield to
the impulse and I reached Pune. My friend was away at office. So I
left my bag in his house and went out, wishing to spend the time
in going round the city till my friend’s return. Quite
accidentally, I enquired at a wayside florist whether there was
any great saint worth visiting in Pune. The shop-keeper directed
me to visit Sree Gulvani Maharaj, a direct disciple of Sree
Vasudevananda Saraswathi.
As soon as I
reached the muth, the aged saint greeted me saying, “Oh!
The child of Sai Baba has come!” I at once realized that I could
get a reliable clarification for my problem from him. He heard my
question and said, “What that learned speaker said is true of only
those who attained Enlightenment through their efforts. But Sai
Baba of Shirdi is not such a one. He is the Avatar of Lord
Dattatreya. He manifests himself to his worthy devotees even
today in his physical form and guides them. You are on the right
track. Go ahead.” When I took leave of him, I asked Gulvani
Maharaj to give me any books that might help me in my quest. At
his call, a devotee gave me a Sanskrit translation of Sree Guru
Charitra and a book of Sanskrit verses in praise of Lord
Dattatreya. “These are the only copies left with us. You are
fortunate in getting them,” said the devotee. At once I realized
that Sai Baba had blessed me with three things: the solution of my
doubt, a version of Sree Guru Charitra which I could read
and for which I was longing; and the darshan and blessings
of an eminent saint of the Datta tradition. I was all the happier
to learn later that Sree Vasudevananda Saraswathi used to read the
Sree Guru Charitra every day and that his, along with his
other devotional practices, had won for him the darshan of
Lord Dattatreya in a vision and his direct initiation with a
mantra. The present work is a free English rendering of this
work. I was more fully impressed by the value of the book when I
learned that a large number of devotees were divinely directed to
resort to Sree Akkalkot Maharaj as their Guru as a result of their
devout study of Sree Guru Charitra.
About the
Work
Sree Guru
Charitra
was first written by Sree Gangadhara Saraswathi in Marathi
Language. The eminent Marathi scholar L.R.Pangarkar says that the
first two incarnations of Lord Dattatreya, Sree Sreepada
Sreevallabha and Sree Nrisimha Saraswathi, the two protagonists of
the immortal work, had flourished in the 14th and 15th
centuries A.D. The original texts recounts in 53 chapters, the
life and teachings of the two incarnations in about 7000 verses.
In the late nineteenth century, Sree Vasudevananda Saraswathi, a
famous saint of the Dattatreya tradition, translated the work in
Sanskrit verses of equal number. Later, he was told in a vision by
Lord Dattatreya that details pertaining to matters of Hindu
religious ritual, have infringed on the proper theme of the work,
and was directed to abridge in into 2000 verses. The present
translator and the Sanskrit pundit who had assisted him in reading
the Sanskrit text were blessed with darshan and blessings of
several great saints during and after the study and translation of
this Sanskrit work. This is quite in keeping with the subtleties
of the Dattatreya tradition. The present English translator is
still working hard to gather material about the historical
background of the first two Avatars of Lord Dattatreya. He hopes
to furnish the same in a more complete form in subsequent editions
of the work.
The Purpose
of Translation
The present
rendering into English is intended to serve a five-fold purpose.
Firstly, its study is a very effective means of contacting the
deeper perennial springs of spiritual wisdom of all religions
through proper attunement of our psyche. For according to the
Perennial Philosophy (Sanatana Dharma), the Spirit is the
medium, Substratum or the essence, of which the whole universe is
a manifestation. This Spirit or Essence is Lord Dattatreya which
manifests itself as the great Sadgurus from time to time. When we
study their life histories, their acts and teachings, our hearts
are attuned to the Essential Spirit of Datta. Secondly, in the
form of Sree Nrisimha Saraswathi, Lord Dattatreya has vowed to
manifest Himself amidst us in response to our loving call. In the
modern age of cultural chaos and confusion of values, it will be
of immense help to mankind, if a large number of noble aspirants
for spiritual perfection, their own and that of their fellows come
together in Spirit in a process of collective self-attunement to
the Eternal Spirit of Lord Datta through a widespread study of the
work and, together, all of them call upon the Spirit of the
perennial Guru to manifest Himself amongst us and guide us along
the noble path. Thirdly, as the life of Sai Baba of Shirdi, the
latest and the most complete manifestation of Lord Datta, amply
demonstrates, Dattatreya is the One Spirit that manifests Itself
through all the Enlightened Spiritual teachers of today that
belong to various nations and religions. By the widespread study
of Sree Guru Charitra, ever larger number of responsive souls
amidst us would be able to draw richly upon the grace of all these
Masters. Fourthly, a delight study of these works would educate
the masses of devout souls to transcend the vicious, narrow
barrier of religion and race and pray the Vedic seers,” Let
uplifting thoughts come to us from all direction.” Fifthly, these
devotees would be sufficiently informed about the hallmarks of
true Perfect Masters and would not fall prey to the vile of
half-baked, self-seeking charlatans who trade in instant,
effortless “techniques” of pseudo-spiritualism.
Philosophical and Metaphysical
Background
of
SREE GURU CHARITRA
As a backdrop
to the marvellous account of the avatars of Lord Dattatreya,
Sree Guru Charitra presents a comprehensive resume’ of the
whole of ancient Indian philosophy of life. It envisages human
life as a search for lasting contentment, peace and bliss and as a
struggle for complete unfoldment of its vast spiritual potential.
All of Man’s endeavors derive ultimately from this aspiration.
Many fail to realize these goals in life owing to lack of proper
understanding of Man’s innate nature and his relationship to the
rest of all existence of which human life is but one
manifestation. Only when man understands the nature of material
universe as the manifestation of the One Universal Spirit and
accordingly orients his life to it at the three levels of
understandings, word, and deed and can he hope to attain his goal.
Those who succeeded in accomplishing this task have, out of their
spontaneous compassion for suffering humanity, enjoined a way of
making all of one’s life a single-minded pursuit of this goal,
molding all of one’s natural instinctive drives to contribute to
its realization. Thus the proper way of life is viewed as one
continuous sacrament and ritual, made-up of a series of such,
befitting the various stages of human life. Such a view of life
derives from a direct experience of the spiritual process that
underlies the nature of all existence from moment to moment,
gained by the Enlightened Ones. Ancient Wisdom views the First
cause as the Nameless, Formless, Universal consciousness or the
Spirit. The fundamental nature of this universal consciousness is
to manifest the alternating states of activity and rest. The Pure
spirit was called the Parabrahman; its dynamic aspect is
called Prakriti. The whole of nature we see around us, from
the distant nebulae and galaxies down to the smallest “particles”
and “fields” of modern Physics, constitutes Prakriti and
its play. At the end of every active phase comes the state of
total dissolution of all material existence and the two states are
figuratively described as the “sleep and wakefulness” of Brahma,
the Creator. In these are involved many sub-phases or cycles of
time called “Kalpas”, each bearing its own name. For
instance the present one is called the Svetavaraha Kalpa,
literally ‘the Kalpa of the White Boar’. Each Kalpa is sub-divided
into Manvantaras each having its own universal law-giver or
Manu. Each Manvantara is again subdivided into the sequence
of four Yugas, of which there is a definition in Sree Guru
Charitra.
At every phase
of Total Dissolution or Pralaya, all the living creatures
and all other aspects of the previous active phase of material
existence are said to recede into a dormant state in a subtle
form, just as all our feelings, thoughts and knowledge lie dormant
in our individual consciousness during deep sleep. When we wake
up, all these re-emerge into manifestation. So does it happen with
the recommencement of the active phase of the universal Spirit?
Every active
phase of the Universal consciousness is said to begin as a stir in
the Divine Will (The World, as the Bible puts it) to manifest
Himself as the Many. According to Indian Scriptures, the first to
be created are spiritual principles called the four Brahma
Manasa Putras (the spiritual offspring of Brahma, the Creator)
who chose to remain forever as such, i.e., as fully enlightened
sages and not get entangled. In the next phase of the active cycle
were projected the Prajapatis (lit. The progenitors of
material creation and living creatures) and sages like Atri who
willingly chose to further the divine plan of creation. Then were
projected the various conscious forces in nature described as gods
by the Vedas. The rest of the material creation is a
product of the collective, harmonious functioning of these
conscious principles, described as the Yagna.
The whole of
the active phase or Prakriti is characterized by three
modes of functioning of the cosmic energy – Sattva, Rajas
and Tamas which can be described as Harmony, Activity and
Confusion. After the evolution of the material universe, including
the earth, with all its flora and fauna, sages like Atri
manifested themselves on earth in human forms and propagated
knowledge of the fundamental creative processes among mankind.
This body of knowledge is the Veda which later came to be
classified into four Vedas. The sages also tried to impart
all this knowledge to as many as possible through religious
philosophy, metaphysics and ritual. The whole process of creation,
of which Man is a part, was presented as a spontaneous, joyful,
creative process of self-fulfilling activity with no other aim or
goal. Man can live in harmony with the rest of creation and with
his own self (which is basically a manifestation of the cosmic or
universal process) to the extent that he grows in this realization
and he can thus transcend all those narrow, selfish concerns which
shut out such understanding and which are, in their turn, products
of lack of such an understanding.
Guru and
Disciple
As such, man
with the help of this understanding, has to inform and mould his
every thought, word and deed with the urge to realize this wisdom.
That is, understanding moulds thought, word and deed. Cultured
thoughts, word and deeds actualize his understanding and there by
perfect it. Thus, in the form of a chain reaction, man enters the
real relentless stream of divine creation towards self
harmonization and perfection, freeing himself from the cocoon of
petty selfish drives or needs that are projected as natural and
legitimate by his limited, clouded view of creation. The latter is
a blurred distorted image obtained through the sense medium of his
wrong understanding, or more correctly, no-understanding. When one
realizes this harmonization with the rest of creation, the basic
disharmony with himself implied by his former concept of the
discreetness, distinctness of his own self, ‘other’ selves and
things is dissolved. And he realizes the unity that is the essence
of the seeming diversity of forms. Such a one perceives the misery
of others as remnants of disharmony of his own self and strives to
resolve it while, from the strength of his own perfection, he
knows that there are in fact no others to be saved from misery.
Such a one is
called the Guru, the Teacher that can make all our life’s
struggle for lasting contentment and bliss, worth the game.
Without him, the immense creation and one’s own disharmonious life
together seems an ocean of misery of phenomenal existence. With
this help, it is an ocean of the bliss of Self-Realization. Anyone
who knows or intuits this is bound to love the Guru. His heart’s
strength with which he had hitherto loved wealth, his life, wife
and all else separately, is now put together in adoration of the
Master.
It is on this
basis that Sree Guru Charitra may be termed the
glorification of the Guru who is the Truth, the Way and the Life,
and is worthy of being loved with all the strength of one’s soul
and heart, as the Christ puts it. The proper conduct of a true
disciple to the Guru, as depicted in the stories in Sree Guru
Charitra would seem childish forms of self-enslavement, if
this truth is not understood. The details of a disciple’s conduct
are not something which can be formally implemented, but they
constitute the spontaneous experience of love. The joy of such
love consists in acting it out, living it out. It is not the
veneration of an individual called the Guru; it is the spontaneous
realization of the essence of the Guru; it is wisdom in-action
that is the ultimate object of one’s own life’s struggle. In
short, only such a one is disciple and, to him, the Guru is all
the gods, all the holy places and the rest. What his own life
cannot give him, he is sure that the Guru can, and hence the
latter is dearer than the former, than his own life. Do not human
beings stake their lives for love, wealth and fame etc, which
cannot promise as much?
However, it is
not everyone that can blossom into such a state of perfection,
either of discipleship or Guruhood. They are always a handful,
like the most eminent scientists, poets, or national leaders.
Guruhood is the fruit of perfection in discipleship, and ideal
discipleship is itself a fruit of much preparation and endeavor.
To ensure these to the best possible extent for the largest
number, the sages have enjoined a scheme of life: The growing boy
and girl also in Vedic times-even before his mind is caught up in
the web of ‘natural’ impulses born of wrong understanding, is left
in the care of a learned man whose understanding was already
stabilized enough to strive for the sole object of
Self-Realization. This was called upanayana and it was
performed between the ages of 7 and 9 years. For about 10 – 12
years, the growing boy leads a life of strict discipline of body,
mind and conduct and prepares himself to lead a life as a
continuous sacrament, aimed at achieving perfection. Those who
gain unusual development among such Brahmacharis
(celebates) are permitted to renounce all worldly ties and
pursuits immediately and to dedicate themselves wholly to the task
of Self-realization in the service of a Sadguru or a Perfect
Master. Others are advised to accept their un preparedness for the
task realistically and marry girls who too were trained to
cooperate with these in leading the ideal domestic life. The
so-called arranged marriages are the relics of this tradition.
Other forms of marriage, like the one by mutual choice of the
partners (Gandharva Vivaha) too were allowed, though the
former was preferred.
In Vedic
times, so say some Smriti (Law) texts, Upanayana was
enjoined for girls too. Owing to the growing demands on domestic
life of the girls, this seems to have gone out of use.
Subsequently, the girl of 8-10 years was married to a youth so
trained and he was to be her Guru, guide, philosopher, friend and
lover in one. The ideal of a wife thus came to be a replica of the
Guru-disciple relationship as described earlier. We can see the
parallelism between the ways of life enjoined on a disciple and on
an ideal wife (Pativrata) briefly in Sree Guru Charitra,
and more elaborately in the Puranas and Smriti
texts. The total love that developed between so perfectly matched
pairs was that when the husband died, the wife found life so
worthless that she preferred to immolate herself on the funeral
pyre of her husband’s body (Sati Sahagamana). The inner
feeling of self dedication impels such an act and ensures her the
very best of spiritual states after death. Later, this custom
degenerated into a mere matter of family pride when, in the modern
age, society has come very benignly to prohibit the practice. But
even this Sati Sahagamana is said to be inferior to that
ideal of love-relationship in which even the very knowledge of the
husband’s death led to the spontaneous and instantaneous death of
the loving wife too. In its turn, this too was considered inferior
to that power of woman’s loving faith which could revive her
deceased husband, as depicted in the stories of Savitri and
Satyavantha. The implication is that, just an ideal
disciple, by the power of his devotion to and faith in the Guru as
the divine Trinity in One, won supernatural powers, a Pativrata
too can win the same state by similar loving faith in her husband.
As the husband was trained by his Guru already in the right way of
life, he is considered the lawgiver to his wife who pursues the
same goal of life. As her sons too would be similarly trained, she
is expected to be under their care, if her husband dies earlier
than she i.e., if she cannot opt for Sati Sahagamana.
Ultimately, it is God as guru that saves the ideally trained man
and God as her husband saves an ideal housewife. Hence, it is
specifically stated that a genuine spiritual teacher should
initiate a woman only through her husband. This idea is implied
when Sree Guru Charitra enjoins a woman to so revere her
husband even if, in consequence of her misdeeds in a previous
life, she were to obtain a husband who is wicked and cruel in this
life. The same is implied when Sree Guru admonishes a seeker that
forsook his Guru for being what seemed to him to be cruel and
exacting. Besides, Sree Guru says to the said disciple that it is
a sin even to see that face of one who forsakes his Guru. For it
shows the latter’s unworthiness. So too, a window came to be
looked upon as an omen of ill luck in the Indian society; for it
was believed that her violation of the sanctity of marriage in
some way in her previous life is responsible for her unfortunate
condition in the present life. This might in fact be a device to
ensure that a young widow takes all precautions to see that her
own devotion to her late husband does not waver through free
mingling with men and women. The life of a widow is, like that of
a sannyasi, total dedication to spiritual endeavor. Only, the
latter lives under the care of her sons or brothers, while the
former wanders homeless.
Such a plan of
life enables man to see through the lure of instinctive drives and
to qualify for the guidance of a Sadguru. It takes many lives to
perfect it and most of us fall off almost at every turn. The
Sadguru perseveres through all of them to draw us again on to the
path. This truth has been amply affirmed by even modern saints
like Sai Baba of Shirdi and Swami Samarth of Akkalkot, the two
latest avatars of Lord Dattatreya.
Sree Guru
Charitra affirms the caste system of the Veda. The Veda views the
society as an organism which naturally produces groups of
individuals with different aptitudes and abilities, so that each
group can function like a specialized organ, for the well being of
the whole. But, as man is endowed with intelligence, playing his
legitimate part in the life of the total system involves
deliberate choice and discipline under the guidance of the sages;
this ensures further development of the individual’s abilities
which is imperative for his spiritual perfection. On the other
hand, whenever faith in the system flags, the individuals attach
fanciful values to certain occupations and scramble for them. In
the ensuing struggle, the earlier identification of their groups
with their names of castes plays havoc, as it is now doing in
India.
To ensure
against such decay, each of the castes was taught its won
Dharma, its values and its relation to the Dharma of
the others. The Sudra who serves the other three castes and
enables them to function effectively is the foot on which the
social organism or the Collective Soul stands. And hence devout
Hindus bow to the feet of the Lord. Vaisya, the producer
and trader of all goods and grain, depends immediately upon the
Sudra; so he corresponds to the thighs of the Lord. The
Kshatriya who guards law and order within the society and produce
it from external aggression is said to have originated from the
arms of the Lord. The Brahmin is the guardian of all branches of
knowledge and their grand synthesis in the wisdom of the Self
(Brahman). He, like the theoretician in the Marxist society,
guides the material and the spiritual pursuits of the society in
strict harmony and ensures that neither of them encroaches upon
the other; the first three ashramas are the bedrock on
which the fourth one stands and to which they lead.
Like all
organisms, the social system too decays in time, despite all care.
The direction of change is from its pristine state in the Krita
Yuga to its total decay in the Kali Yuga. All through,
the collective life-forces strives it bets to arrest and delay the
process of social decay and repeatedly attempts to restore it as
far as possible. The Collective Soul of mankind manifests itself
as repeatedly the Spiritual Masters, the Gurus, to redefine
tradition and to correct the aberrations of dogmatism. So did the
Christ for the Jewish law and Mohammed for the Arab law. Thus the
Smriti texts enjoin strict adherence to their dictates in
general. They specifically state that the instructions of a
perfect sage have precedence, when one can find such. So too,
regarding the implementation of the law, one is told to follow the
practice of the Wise as the model. Yet human nature being a part
of the natural phenomenon of decay, we find orthodoxy fanatically
adhering to its own forms of inhumanity in the name of sacred law,
in spite of what the Gurus and traditional texts teach them. To
counter this trend, the sages strengthen the faith and wisdom in
the hearts of individuals, that the practice religious rites and
rituals like yagnas and Vratas is an essential part
of Karma or righteous action, intended to nullify the defects of
past misdeeds and ensure proper motivation for right action in the
future births.
The assurance
of Sree Guru that he would forever abide at Gangapur and go round
the village for bhiksha at noon is literally true even
today. It is customary for devotees visiting the holy place to go
for bhiksha too. On my second visit to the place in 1975,
while partaking of it under a tree, I remarked to a south Indian
sadhu who sat by me, that Sree Guru’s eternal presence might be a
well-meant fabrication. At first, he seemed to doubt whether it
would be worth the while to try to enlighten me. Later, his
attitude changed. He said, “Listen, I have been visiting this
place for a few decades. Once, as I was devoutly reading Sree Guru
Charitra at the Sangama, I suddenly felt that I should try or
recognize him some day when he comes for bhiksha and seek
his blessing. Accordingly, I studied the holy book with ever
greater zeal. At the same time, I began to observe every devotee
that arrived there on days when visitors were the fewest, so that
I can identify any other form in which Sree Guru might turn up for
bhiksha. Day by day, my expectation grew up to a high
pitch, when at last it was like an ecstasy that gripped my being
throughout the day. One night, Sree Guru appeared in my dream like
a pious Brahmin and said in stern voice, “Fellow, don’t try to
catch me amidst the crowd of the visiting devotees it is my secret
and it does not behove you to probe it.” The next minute, I woke
up and reflected on the dream. I could vividly remember that
despite his form and appearance, I was sure that he was Sree Guru.
Evidently, my zealous prayer and trial have evoked a response from
him. Having come thus far in my effort, should I relent? I decided
to press on till I could achieve my object. Strangely enough, from
that day onwards, I never again experienced that sense of his
presence which swayed my whole being earlier. I was only quietly
happy and assured that I was in sight of my success.
One day, the
devotees at Gangapur were unusually fewer and it was my best
opportunity to observe and note them individually. At about 7.30
Am., the moment I finished my dip in the river and came on the
bank, I had a severe headache and high fever. I was feeling giddy
and extremely weak. At once, I lay down under a tree and fell
asleep. When I woke at about 3 p.m. I was quite well and hungry.
It was long past the hour of bhiksha. Yet as it was vow to
live only on bhiksha, I at once proceeded to a few houses
and called out for the same. At all the places, I was told that
they had nothing left to give me. At one house, when I doggedly
pleaded, the master of the house was furious and said, “You seem
to have come here only to fill your belly, you worthless sadhu!
When you came for the noon-bhiksha, I gave you a roti!” I
protested that I did not come for bhiksha that day at all.
But a few passers by confirmed the man’s accusation. I had to give
in and I quietly walked away, crest-fallen and weak. I knew that
something had happened that I should face such a ridiculous
situation. That evening, I felt weak and lost all my appetite and
slept very early. Again, the same Brahmin appeared in my dream:
Amidst laughter, he was telling his companions; how he had fooled
me. At last, he said to me, ‘Yesterday, as you were asleep, I went
in your form for bhiksha!’ Henceforth, I gave up my foolish
attempt. Now I know that Sree Guru is here and is quite
responsive.”
The sadhu met
me the next day and incidentally told me that a few decades ago,
the priests at the muth, on the eve of an important
festival, was cleaning the padukas of Sree Guru with water
and coconut fiber. The latter contained a small piece of
coconut-shell. When the priest rubbed a little hard, there was a
scratch on one of the padukas and blood oozed out of it.
The priests were all quite scared and tried their best to stop it
but in vain. They panicked and sent word to His Holiness, Sree
Vasudevananda Saraswathi who was then camping nearby. The holy one
rushed to the muth and, when he chanted a few verses
glorifying Sree Guru, the bleeding stopped.
“Would the
padukas bleed again, if………” I asked. “Perhaps they would if the
Lord chooses to bless you with such an experience!” the sadhu
replied. Indeed, experiences are personal and cannot be thus
argued about. If we have such an experience, would it suffice
another? Should we not put our hand to the plough and never turn
back?
To Spiritual
Aspirants
Identifying
and contacting a Sadguru, a Perfect Master, is the crux of the
problem of spiritual evolution of man, both collective and
individual, especially in the present times, when the mass media
and fanfare have made it more of a craze than a serious pursuit.
Yet, fortunately for the serious-minded, there is a hope and a
clear way: the devout study of Sree Guru Charitra.
The phenomenon
is analogous to that of remote control initially, leading to
immediate, personal contact: a gadget must be capable of receiving
the remote commands; the seeker too has to evolve in himself, some
potential which can respond positively to the subtle, all
pervasive spiritual field of the Master. The study of Sree Guru
Charitra does just this for us.
The study of
Sree Guru Charitra focuses our inherently extrovert
awareness on that spiritual potential in us, of which Sree Guru is
an objective manifestation, an Archetype, a sort of reflector of
our awareness on to its original Self. As we persevere deli
gently, our awareness gets oriented to his presence every moment
of our life. At one stage, the message is strong and unmistakable:
the goal, the Perfect Master is sighted. In his perpetual
immediate presence, our potential matures and the Seeker and the
Sought become One. Till then, Sree Guru Charitra is the
Master, this end of this innate tie. And such a one never
proclaims him self to the world. For him there is no world apart
from his Master, no seeking for disciples and no need of constant
reassurance of his credentials to anyone. The path may seem too
long for some. But if one is genuinely interested in it, the
pleasure of it is the journey; only such a one reaches the goal.
For, it is not an outward journey with spatial and temporal
implications, but is an inward ripening. The fruit ripens through
contact with the tree.
The proper
method of studying this text is to begin it on a Thursday and to
conduct it as below: Keep a beautiful picture of Sree Dattatreya
and or of Sree Guru. Offer a light or a candle, joss sticks,
flowers and sandal paste. Invoke HIS presence by chanting the
verse in praise of the Guru, i.e., “Gurur Brahma” meaning,
“Guru is the creator (Brahma), the preserver (Vishnu) and the
annihilator (Maheshwara); Guru is the Absolute Himself. Adorations
to such a Guru”. Then offer a few pieces of candy to Him. Then
read the book as follows: The first day 7 chapters; second and
third days, 4 chapters each; and thereafter 2 chapters per day. On
the concluding day, feed three or at least one pious Brahmin,
sadhu or a poor man. We must look upon him as the form of Sree
Guru. We keep reading like this over and over again. One may read
it once in 3 days or even a day, ardently seeking His guidance.